Sabio Alumnus Casey Codes Next "Call of Duty" Game at Activision Job
When Casey started out, his path was leading nowhere close to coding, “I studied chemistry and UC Santa Barbara. Around my junior/senior year I realized that it was not at all for me and then it was like…okay, what now? I had heard about coding bootcamps and thought that might be a good route so I started doing some research and that’s how I came across Sabio.”
However, it wasn’t just Sabio’s stellar job placement stats that interested Casey, “I read the testimonials of different students which were all overwhelmingly positive, so I thought this was the place to be. So many of the other schools had really mixed or negative reviews. I went to an info session, went all in and immediately signed up. Once the program started, it was like a full time job. The curriculum there is excellent, and not just that, they really just teach you how to learn which is extremely important moving forward. It’s highly likely that at your job as a software engineer, you’ll have other engineers that you work with afterwards that are going to ask you questions and vice versa. But also equally as likely, you might end up being the principal engineer at a startup and may not have anyone there to ask questions. They really give you all the tools that you need to handle either of those situations.”
Casey also loved the cohort he got placed in, “We all learned to work together really well, which is yet another important skill to have. And I think that’s a testament to Sabio’s teaching style. My instructor at Sabio was a great guy, super super knowledgeable and really set me up for success. One of the really unique things about Sabio is that you pretty much get actual startup experience by working on a real-world project. This not only teaches you but sets up your resume to definitely be the best it could possibly be. They also help with the resume process overall as well. They get you set up with a professional industry insider who
goes through everyone’s resume, gives you feedback, you and your cohort give each other feedback, it was great. A few times someone even had an interview that they would let us listen in on just to hear what it was like. That was just an amazing resource and gave me so much support and confidence.”
Another important aspect of going to Sabio for Casey was the vast network it provided, “Gregorio Rojas (Sabio’s Co-Founder & CTO) & Liliana Monge (Sabio’s Co-Founder and CEO) are amazing and they really care. You can always go to them with whatever you need, I’ve gone to them multiple times after Sabio with questions, asking for advice, something just to vent about something. You are part of the Sabio community forever. There are also a lot of alumni there that you can ask questions to, they share job opportunities, events at their companies, it’s just an unbelievably good resource. A good thing they tell you at the end of your course at Sabio is to meet with your instructor who will give you a “number,” which is how much they think you can reasonably ask for as far as salary at your first job. I ended up even pushing mine a little higher.”
The job process that Sabio laid out also helped Casey, “Of course it wasn’t easy, I applied to so many jobs. But all it takes is that one response and from there it was great. My first job was actually my first in-person interview that I ended up nailing, which is also a testament to Sabio. My best buddy in the cohort, his name is Matt, his story is actually pretty amazing. He was a bit older than me when he started Sabio, I think 30 or 31. I also don’t think he had finished his college degree. Before Sabio he was working a job he hated, started Sabio with zero coding experience, now he works at Tesla. He started as a general engineer, moved up to senior engineer, and now he’s the lead engineer. After Sabio I ended up working on Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Warzone. I also worked a little bit on the Cold War game, now I’m working on the new Call of Duty game coming out. But that’s just it, Sabio teaches you how to learn to adapt and then continue to learn which is exactly what I’m still doing to this day.”
A Technical UI Designer at Activision, Casey loves his work and position, “Sabio really gave me the confidence that I can do what I want to do if I just put my mind to it. I don’t think that I would have been able to do any of this without Sabio. There are a lot of online resources and stuff but nothing really gives you the structure that Sabio does. Having the instructors, cohorts, it’s really invaluable. I’m definitely making more money than most of my friends and if I had stayed in chemistry it would have been years hunched over a lab bench not making a good salary. In terms of quality of life, I feel like I really lucked out. I’m so happy now, I have financial freedom and the freedom to do what I want to do. Being able to code is just an amazing feeling, I mean you can build something out of nothing. It can be a big leap for someone to quit their job and start a full-time career on a hunch, but it’s worth it. Going to Sabio was the best decision I ever made, hands down.”